Jun

How 3DCart 4’s New Price Haggling Feature Drives Sales Higher

Savvy online comparison shoppers will always find the lowest price for their purchase—and that can be frustrating for online store owners because you don’t have the time to research every single competitor to compare prices on every single product. How do you snag some of that bargain shopper business without hiring on a researcher or spending countless hours doing the research independently?

Launching in early July, 3DCart 4 might have exactly what you need to solve the problem and drive up conversions. Our new “Make-An-Offer” feature gives you the ability to cash in on bargain shoppers you might be losing to lower prices elsewhere on the web.

From your end, it’s a simple tool to use. For each product you want the feature to apply to, set a percentage below the original price that still works for your profit margins. Any time a bargain shopper names his or her own price and it’s within the percentage, the purchase is automatically approved. If the shopper names a price below the percentage, you’ll have the ability to approve or decline the sale.

By adding the “Make-An-Offer” feature, you’ll drive up conversions by exposing your brand to new audiences.

New Customer Type 1: Comparison Shoppers

Some shoppers are happy to pick a brand like Amazon and stick with it for all of their shopping needs. Other shoppers want to save money or just enjoy the thrill of the chase, and today’s ecommerce atmosphere makes it easy for shoppers to compare prices online.

By incorporating a “Make an Offer” button, you’ll be able to draw in interested comparison shoppers who already know exactly what they’re looking to buy. They can make an offer below the next best price at another store, and if it’s within your percentage margin, your store will gain a new customer immediately.

New Customer Type 2: Bargain Shoppers

For many of the same reasons as comparison shoppers, bargain shoppers are looking for the best deals they can find online. This category might include shoppers with only a general idea of what they’re looking to purchase—but the right deal can be too good to pass up. Giving these shoppers the ability to name their own price and nail down a bargain increases the likelihood of a conversion and return business.

New Customer Type 3: Haggling Shoppers

Okay, so you’re not a New York City street vendor—but that doesn’t mean you won’t find shoppers that want to haggle with you for a better price. Since the dawn of eBay, internet shoppers have come to realize the potential to work with online stores on pricing flexibility. Haggling isn’t exactly the same as the auction model, but the core concept of a fluid market-based price is the same.

If you want to convert more sales, flexibility is key. Don’t be afraid to haggle; landing that haggle shopper can lead to a lot more business in the future.

Make-An-Offer is new in 3dcart 4. In the following week we’ll be providing details on 2 more great features that in addition to Autoresponders and 3dFeedback make 3dcart 4 the ideal solution for your online store.

About the Author:
Jimmy Rodriguez is CTO and co-founder of 3DCart, developer of an e-commerce suite for businesses of all sizes. As an authority on e-commerce best practices, Jimmy combines more than 8 years as an e-commerce developer and web programmer with SEO, social marketing and business intelligence.

3dcart +

June 23, 2011 3dcart

Bigpup49

I do hope this is an add-on and not something that will generically appear in my store. This is a bad idea as it smacks of EBay. I do not sell on EBay for this reason. If a buyer truly wants your product, they will buy it from you at whatever the cost, or go someplace else. Haggling brings you less of a margin and devalues the item that you are selling. This would then become the norm on your store and customers would expect it on all things. You can sell quantity or quality, your choice. If the store owner is doing his/her homework, he will know what his competition is. I have thousands of products in my store and I guarantee you I know who my competitors are on every item as I research them before purchasing wholesale. Knowing these competitors is keeping in touch with the pulse of your business. Are those prices ever changing? Sure they are but there should be more to your store then price. You should be selling uniqueness and above all exemplary customer service. This is what keeps your customer coming back.
Derek King

I hope i can set it up so I can match competitors and give an additonal 5% off – and have the supply the url.

http://ephedrawarehouse.com
TheBeltShoppe.com

I will not be using Make an Offer. I agree, this looks and smells just like eBay. If I want to sell on eBay, I'll sell on eBay.
Megan

Why would any customer pay full price with this feature? Why even list an advertised price, if customers can haggle and we're giving it cheaper?

Definitely my least favorite of the new features.
Rick

Jimmy,
I assume this feature can be turned on-off on a per product basis, correct?
http://twitter.com/jimmy3dcart Jimmy Rodriguez

Hi Rick! Yes, it can be enabled/disabled per item. In most cases you might want to offer this just for a couple products. It's great alternative with manufacturers required you to display a MAP price, you can have the price required by then listed but in a way let customers know that you can sell under that price. The wording can also be modified to be used as a “Price Match” feature.
http://www.facebook.com/nmteaco David Edwards

I agree with you that I would not use this feature site wide, however I could see how it could be used, especially in other countries where bargaining is more popular.

I sell Tea, and in china bargaining for tea is very common. It might be fun to have a section on our site for the teas that I import directly from china, for these items I could enable this feature, and people might find it fun to bargain for the tea online.
Brian Adkins

It might be nice if this feature could be enabled for a product… but only appear as an option if the customer has spent more that X minutes on the site, or has viewed more than Y pages on the site.

This kind of selectivity is becoming important for functionality like this as well as cart countdown timers such as “buy in the next 4:00 minutes and receive free shipping”… There may not be a need to make the offer to a customer unless we know that he/she is a hesitant buyer and needs a little nudge.
Kevin

After 3 years of suggesting this.. THANK YOU… this will do wonders for our business!

For the critics below. It doesn't work for every product and certainly will not work for every product we sell. But it will work great for items we want to clearance and dead inventory we need to turn into cash!
David's Gifts and Things

If I wanted toys that say eBay I would sell on eBay or go back to ProStores. Were here because 3D has nothing in common with eBay.
http://www.k9cakery.com Andrew

This sounds like a great option. It would work better for me if it came as a pop-up when someone leaves the store without making a purchase. That gives me a second chance to get their business before I lose them for good. Any chance of this option?
http://www.facebook.com/david.sabot David Sabot

I have been using Make an Offer on my other sites and have begged 3D to implement this feature. It is about time.
Blair

Thanks Jimmy, this is exactly why I'm excited about the feature! I sell at MAP just like I'm supposed to, but 75% of my competition doesn't care about that. Maybe I can actually sell a couple of those high-priced items that would still provide margin below MAP.
Bagbros

This is a fantastic feature and cant wait for version 4 - Great for customer engagement and part of the social marketing mix!
http://www.bestdeals2die4.com Crockerindustriesinc

I actually tried this on E Bay and it did work. Granted there are always some who low ball to the extreme. Say “Would you take $5.00 for a $100.00 item”. BUT the reverse of that was that we would get customers who would ask would you take $2.00 of a $100.00 item AND WE WERE MORE THAT HAPPY TO do that.

What we saw was that our business increased because more people were looking at our items in the hope of getting a sale. And as far as “Why would anyone buy at regular price when they could bargain”. They will. Some customers just want the item and don't want to bother with bargaining. That is why “Buy it Now” is so popular. I think this is a win, win situation.
Terrry

If you don't like it don't use it! This option works well in a market where you have price instability whether escalating or declining. Much like auctions. Ask your customer what he thinks the products worth. If they're educated and have shopped around they'll be reasonable. Of course there are those that would want you to sell at cost, but they're to be ignored. Also, for folks who are embarrassed to haggle they are now empowered. I run an auction company. I wish my auction software had this feature. Who cares about ebay if you're trying brand your own store?
WorkVanEquipment.com

Isnt it lunching in early July? It's already Mid July. Wonder when it will actually launch
Vickie Welch

This feature is not for everyone but it is great to have this option available for use on your website. In addition to my 3DCart website, I have been selling on ebay for 4-5 years and have learned, through trial and error, that I sell more off of ”buy it now” and have better quality customers with a larger return rate. Auctions and “make an offer” have brought me alot of one time buyers who are sometimes looking for more then just a good bargain and can leave you with a headache with their continuous attemps to get things for FREE. In my experience, as I moved to “BUY IT NOW” and pampered my customers with The Best Customer Service they could ask for along with our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, I have found that I am selling more, have a better customer base, an increase in return buyers, and have gained new buyers by referral from happy customers. I may use this new bargain option as a sale feature for low inventory items that I want to sell quickly and for items that are being discontinued.

The Question is: Do you want to have customers of large quantity with a lower return rate or loyal customers of quality who return not only for your products but for your great customer service? Why do consumers shop at Macy's instead of Walmart? Both are sucessful and profitable companies, but as a business owner, who's customers would you want to snag up? I'd go with the Macy's customers. Why? They are loyal to the Business Name, Products and Shopping Experience. Provided you offer the same excellent shopping experince and customer service, you will win over your own base of loyal customers, who will help expand your customer base by word of mouth. I have also learned you can sell more for less (with a larger work load and more headaches) or you can sell less for more (with a loyal customer base and less stress) in which I have found that the profit equals out to be just about the same, or as in my case, ended up being higher thru my base of loyal customers -vs- the large quantity of bargain customers I once had.

My advice: Use it as a clearance sale tool unless your busines is auction oriented. If you spend more time on providing your customers with quality service and an excellent shopping experience, I guarantee you will be a happier, less stressed, business owner with happy customers and sucessful business.

Vickie Welch
Business Owner
http://www.bighouseofgifts.com

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